20 March 20
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20 March 20
Bill McKibben | The Coronavirus and the Climate Movement
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker
McKibben writes: "My daughter - full grown and accomplished, but still my daughter - asked me the other day, 'Do you think we're going to go on having crises like this my whole life?'"
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Bill McKibben, The New Yorker
McKibben writes: "My daughter - full grown and accomplished, but still my daughter - asked me the other day, 'Do you think we're going to go on having crises like this my whole life?'"
READ MORE
Sen. Richard Burr, Republican from North Carolina. (photo: Tom Williams/Getty)
ALSO SEE: Sen. Kelly Loeffler Is Second GOP Senator to Dump Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing
The Senate’s newest member sold off seven figures’ worth of stock holdings in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting on the novel coronavirus that subsequently hammered U.S. equities.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus.
“Appreciate today’s briefing from the President’s top health officials on the novel coronavirus outbreak,” she tweeted about the briefing at the time.
GOP Senator Richard Burr Dumped Up to $1.7 Million of Stock After Classified Coronavirus Briefings
Robert Faturechi and Derek Willis, ProPublica
Excerpt: "Intelligence Chair Richard Burr's selloff came around the time he was receiving daily briefings on the health threat."
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Robert Faturechi and Derek Willis, ProPublica
Excerpt: "Intelligence Chair Richard Burr's selloff came around the time he was receiving daily briefings on the health threat."
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Bernie Sanders is one of the few legislators offering bold solutions to the crisis. (photo: Win McNamee/Getty)
Bernie Sanders Is Modeling a Serious Response to Coronavirus
Natalie Shure, In These Times
Excerpt: "We are facing an emergency that will lay bare every gross inequality in American life."
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Natalie Shure, In These Times
Excerpt: "We are facing an emergency that will lay bare every gross inequality in American life."
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A group walking to El Paso from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, last week. (photo: Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Trump Is Using the Coronavirus Pandemic as an Excuse for Union Busting
Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni, The New York Times
Excerpt: "The White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight."
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Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni, The New York Times
Excerpt: "The White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight."
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State Sen. Jim Rice is one of the Republican Idaho lawmakers who passed two anti-trans bills this week, one of which would make it a felony to treat trans youth for gender dysphoria. (photo: Otto Kitsinger/AP)
Idaho's Legislature Hasn't Addressed the Coronavirus. But It Has Passed 2 Anti-Trans Bills This Week.
Katelyn Burns, Vox
Burns writes: "As of Tuesday morning, Idaho Gov. Brad Little had declared a state of emergency in the state over the coronavirus outbreak. Some school districts have closed. But the state legislature hadn't yet taken action to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. It has, though, passed two anti-transgender bills."
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Katelyn Burns, Vox
Burns writes: "As of Tuesday morning, Idaho Gov. Brad Little had declared a state of emergency in the state over the coronavirus outbreak. Some school districts have closed. But the state legislature hadn't yet taken action to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. It has, though, passed two anti-transgender bills."
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At least two Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus. (photo: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)
Coronavirus Hits ICE Staff at Immigration Detention Centers
Emily Kassie, Guardian UK
Kassie writes: "A member of the medical staff at Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey has tested positive for coronavirus, the first confirmed case by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of an employee contracting the virus, Ice confirmed Thursday."
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Emily Kassie, Guardian UK
Kassie writes: "A member of the medical staff at Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey has tested positive for coronavirus, the first confirmed case by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of an employee contracting the virus, Ice confirmed Thursday."
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EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. (photo: Alastair Pike/Getty)
EPA Is Hiding Information About New Chemicals: Green Groups Sue to Stop the Secrecy
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "When Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act in 2016 for the first time in 40 years, public health and environmental advocates hoped it would be a game-changer for protecting Americans from dangerous chemicals, enabling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finally ban harmful substances like asbestos."
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "When Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act in 2016 for the first time in 40 years, public health and environmental advocates hoped it would be a game-changer for protecting Americans from dangerous chemicals, enabling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finally ban harmful substances like asbestos."
hen Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016 for the first time in 40 years, public health and environmental advocates hoped it would be a game-changer for protecting Americans from dangerous chemicals, enabling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finally ban harmful substances like asbestos.
But under President Donald Trump, the EPA has consistently failed to take advantage of the new law. It has declined to ban asbestos, and has even violated requirements that it keep the public informed about the approval of new chemicals, an investigation by Earthjustice and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) revealed. That's why Earthjustice is representing five environmental groups in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the EPA.
"Congress reformed TSCA just a few years ago to protect people's health from new chemicals. It said, unequivocally, that the public has a right to know about these chemicals before they are put out on the market," Earthjustice attorney Tosh Sagar said in a press release. "Trump's EPA instead hides health and safety studies and other key information, just so that industry can have it easier. Ignoring TSCA's transparency requirements makes it more likely that dangerous chemicals are reaching our homes and workplaces."
The Earthjustice and EDF investigation, also published Wednesday, reviewed 204 out of around 1,100 chemical applications the EPA had received between August 2016 and April 2019. It also examined all the public notices that the agency issued for around 1,700 new applications through early 2020. It found that the EPA had routinely violated a stipulation of the new TSCA amendment that the public be informed of the approval process for new chemicals so that it could weigh in before the chemical was put on the market.
The agency concealed information in three key ways, the investigation found.
1. It did not inform the public of new applications in a timely manner: The EPA is supposed to notify the public within five days of receiving a new chemical application. However, the investigation found that the average notice was published 87 days after the application was received, even though the EPA has 90 days to approve a chemical. One in six notices were published after the chemical was already approved.
2. The EPA has withheld key safety information: The agency is supposed to publish all applications online, but instead forces the public to request them via a labyrinthine process. Further, it allows companies to redact or withhold health and safety studies as confidential business information (CBI) despite a legal requirement to publicize all health and safety information.
3. The EPA doesn't evaluate CBI claims: The agency is required by law to audit 25 percent of CBI claims to make sure companies are not abusing the designation to withhold important information. It is then supposed to publish its decision. But the EPA has not published any reviews of CBI claims, and has only completed reviews of claims in 27 applications, far below 25 percent of the 1,250 it has completed safety reviews for.
In one case, this secrecy involved a new type of PFAS, a class of chemical already contaminating U.S. drinking water. The EPA's career scientists found that the new substance could cause respiratory illnesses like asthma and alter DNA, leading to cancer. Nevertheless, it was approved in April 2019 and almost all of the documents provided by the company were never shared with the public.
"When it comes to toxic chemicals and Trump's EPA, this secrecy is the norm. It's not just illegal, it puts workers and families across the country at risk," the investigators wrote.
Earthjustice, acting on behalf of EDF, Environmental Health Strategy Center, Center for Environmental Health, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club, threatened to sue the EPA over the violations in September 2019. The agency promised to improve the application vetting process, but the coalition considered its changes inadequate.
"Unleashing chemicals into the market without proper vetting is like opening Pandora's box," the coalition said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "EPA must stop hiding key information about the chemicals it is reviewing and put public health above the desires of the chemical industry."
The EPA did not comment on a story in The Hill about the lawsuit, saying it did not weigh in on ongoing litigation.
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